Contract workers eligible for maternity leave

In the petition filed by Dr. (Smt.) Hemlata Saraswat, she was appointed on the post of Medical Officer on a consolidated salary in the Primary Health Centre, Kantalia, Sojat Road, Pali (Rajasthan) on the contract basis. She was on leave from 28.8.2005 and resumed the job on 11.1.2006 after delivering a boy child. She was not allowed to take maternity leave, against which she filed a writ petition in Rajasthan High Court. The High Court held that maternity benefit is a social and legal acknowledgement for a women and denial of such benefit on the basis that the employee is a contract worker is not legal; while also directing the employer to sanction her leave benefit.